Give it your all, Todoroki!
by crazyelf2018
Summary: Following his defeat in the sports festival finals, Todoroki has a talk with Yaoyorozu that gives him a lot to think about regarding what it means to be a hero.


Shoto Todoroki blearily opens his eyes and then jerks in the bed he is apparently lying in when he notices the wrinkled face of Recovery Girl just inches away from him.

"Good, you're awake," she says without skipping a beat. She hops off of a stool placed next to the bed. "Your classmates were worried about you."

Shoto sits up, his movement slowed by the dull ache all over his body.

 _My classmates…were worried?_ That is interesting, considering he's under the impression that not many of them like him much - beyond being impressed by his quirk, that is.

"I lost the match," he mutters to himself, understanding what must have transpired when he realizes he doesn't remember anything past the enormous explosion Bakugo set off.

He should probably be feeling disappointed with himself, he thinks - angry, even. But it's hard to piece together any emotions to put a name to right now. Everything is so muddled and confusing.

"Yes, you did," Recovery Girl replies, startling Shoto, who didn't think she had heard him. "But you did earn second place in the festival, which is no small feat. And, fortunately, you don't have any lasting injuries. You'll be sore from the impact of that last blow, coupled with my healing, but you'll be fine with a bit of rest."

"Thank you, ma'am," he says, bowing his head.

"Now, scoot! I hear they want to start the award ceremony soon, so they'll come looking for you if you don't get back out there. And do check in with your friends. I saw them out just before you woke up, so they shouldn't be far. They wanted to make sure that you weren't too badly hurt."

 _Friends?_ Shoto wracks his brain, but can't think of one person in his class who he would call a friend. _Perhaps it was Midoriya?_ The boy did encourage him during Shoto's last match, so perhaps _he_ thinks of them as friends. Or Recovery Girl is just making assumptions.

"Yes, I will," he tells her as he stands and heads to the door.

"Todoroki!"

Shoto hardly makes it out of the infirmary before someone calls his name. To his left, he sees his classmate Momo Yaoyorozu quickly approaching him, already dressed in her school uniform again.

"Ah, sorry if I bombarded you," she remarks, and Shoto realizes that his eyebrows had flown nearly into his hairline at her sudden call to him. He quickly schools his face back into its usual countenance. "It's just that I'm relieved to see that you seem to be fine," Yaoyorozu continues. Her face then contorts into a grimace. "I mean! We - we were _all_ a little worried when you got knocked out, you know."

"Yaoyorozu," he greets, absently wondering why she is acting so strangely. She seems a bit...skittish? "So you're the visitor Recovery Girl mentioned. I thought it might have been Midoriya."

This is fine, though. After their intense match and all the memories and emotions that Midoriya coaxed to the surface, Shoto isn't in a hurry to engage one-on-one with his potential new friend just yet. He gets on fairly well with Yaoyorozu, and she doesn't poke around or - frankly - annoy him like some of their other classmates.

"Yes!" she replies - a little too enthusiastically, Shoto thinks. "Since Iida left, it's my duty as our class's Vice President to check on an injured classmate. So Jiro and I came by to see how you were doing. But, uhm, she left to report back to the others and I thought I might as well wait a bit. To make sure you got back on your feet alright."

"Ah. Well...thank you for your concern."

"So, how are you feeling, then? Even before that last knock out, you took some heavy blows from Midoriya...and Iida's kick..."

"I'm fine," he assures her, although, as he says it, he is almost certain that his torso and back throb just a little harder.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," she says with a smile.

"...We should probably head back now," Shoto says after a few moment's silence. "I hear they're waiting for me so that they can do the awards ceremony."

"Right! Of course!" Yaoyorozu exclaims, bounding forward. Taking her cue, Shoto starts walking and she falls into step beside him.

"Congratulations, by the way," she adds. "You performed very well today."

A few different possible responses to that come to mind, most of which are negative and a few quite rude since he doesn't exactly agree with her. In the end, he decides to go with a simple, "Thanks."

"Your match against Midoriya, especially. It was inspiring."

 _Inspiring?_ He would have expected her to say something like 'reckless' or 'overly dramatic'.

"Was it?"

"Of course! It was the first time we got to see your fire quirk in action. It was incredible."

Shoto's jaw tightens. Yaoyorozu's praise is anything but the self-centered and manipulative response that Shoto received from his father after that match, but her enthusiasm nonetheless reminds him of the almost maniacal look in Endeavor's eyes.

"Hey...uh, Todoroki?"

"Hm?"

Shoto stops when he notices that Yaoyorozu isn't walking with him anymore. He turns and sees that she's playing with the hem of her skirt.

"What is it?"

Did she see the look on his face and feel insulted or something? She does look nervous.

"You...told Iida that you never use your left side in battle," she says, darting her eyes up to meet his quickly before looking back down at the ground. "Isn't that right?"

" - Yes," he says after a moment's hesitation, dreading what he is sure will come next. He doesn't know why he decided to tell Midoriya so much about his history earlier, but he doesn't feel up to repeating it with Yaoyorozu now.

"Well...I just wanted to say that I'm really glad you decided to use it during that match."

He stares at her, surprised by her response. He was sure that she was going to ask about why he doesn't use his left side when it's so powerful, and about what changed during the match. Perhaps that's coming next?

"For one thing, it was really beautiful."

... _Beautiful?_

Again, Yaoyorozu's choice of words is not what he expects to hear from her.

"Yes," she continues, beaming, and Shoto realizes that he must have voiced his thought aloud. "Your attack was powerful, as well, of course, but when I saw your flames, my first thought was that they were just so beautiful." She gives what seems like a nervous laugh that comes out like a weak cough. "I probably sound pretty silly to you right now, huh?"

There it is again: Beautiful.

"No." Shoto glances down at his left hand as if seeing it for the first time and adds, "Nobody has ever said that about my fire before."

 _Unbearable._

 _Monster._

For the last ten years or so, words like these have always been the ones that have come to mind when he has thought of his left side, of the fire quirk he inherited from his father. To hear someone refer to his fire as _beautiful_ , of all things, is…jarring.

"Hmm." Yaoyorozu puts a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Well, that makes sense if you never use it."

"Right."

"I...don't know why you choose to refrain from using your left side," she continues, her voice softer. The look on her face tells Shoto that she likely has an accurate idea about why he doesn't use his left side. "But I hope that you will re-consider that choice in the future. It is a part of who you are, after all, and I don't believe that we can become strong heroes by trying to be something we are not."

 _I don't want it_ , Shoto automatically thinks, his hands clenching at his sides. But he knows she's right. He can't change the fact that this quirk, this burden, is a part of him. And he knows that he will never be the number one hero if he doesn't accept that part of himself and use it to achieve his goals. Midoriya helped him realize that.

Yaoyorozu bites her lip, apparently struggling with something.

"You have more to say," he says, relaxing his hands.

She nods. "Todoroki... You will make a great hero. That's obvious. I managed to get the top spot in the fitness test and always rank high on tests, but it's clear to me that you are the more talented, more promising student. And I - " She stops and looks hard at the ground. After a moment, she shakes her head and then continues, "I hope that I'm not crossing any lines with all this, but...just think of how much more good you can do for the world if you truly give it your all. Isn't that what makes heroes like All Might so amazing?" She raises her head and looks at him imploringly. "That they are willing to give everything they can for the sake of others? That's...that's the kind of hero I want to be, anyway."

There are those words again. _Give it your all_.

"What?"

Shoto returns to the present and realizes that Yaoyorozu said something. "What?" he asks.

"You're…smiling a little," she observes, inclining her head toward him. She's smiling, too, he notices.

"Midoriya said the same thing to me during our match," he explains. " _'Give it your all'_."

"Ah. Yes, well, that is why we are all here. Right?"

"Right," he says. Then, "Thank you, Yaoyorozu."

"For what?" she asks, giving him a quizzical look.

He doesn't know how to articulate why he is thankful for the conversation. He doesn't exactly know _why_ , even. He just knows that he feels a little lighter now than he did before.

"It's been nice talking to you."

"Oh." She grins. "I have enjoyed talking with you, too, Todoroki."

"And also," he says, "Thank you for being on my team during the cavalry battle. You were very dependable. I'm glad I chose you."

"Ah, thank you, Todoroki! That means a lot."

He nods politely, the corners of his lips quirking at the endearing way she clasps her hands together, apparently delighted by his compliment.

"Oh! I've kept you," she quickly says, dropping her hands and looking in the direction of the arena. "We should get going before they send somebody to check on you."

"Yeah," he agrees, leisurely following behind as she sets off at a quicker pace.

As he watches her back, Shoto is struck by the realization that he has been such a fool. Upon entering U.A., he thought that nobody would be able to hold a candle to him, with all the ridiculously strenuous training he has been through.

How damn arrogant he'd been. Blinded by anger. Somehow rudderless as he has sprinted down the only path he has ever known his whole life.

In one day, Midoriya and Yaoyorozu have managed to practically change his entire outlook on what it means to be a hero. It's clear to him now that there is a lot more to it than being the strongest, the most intelligent, the bravest, the _best_.

Yaoyorozu is completely right. Those are not the things that make All Might the top hero. Vague memories fill Shoto's head, of him with his mother, watching All Might on the television. He remembers being absolutely amazed by the fact that All Might always did so much for others, and then kept going. He never gives up. He has always given _everything_ that he has, and then has this tendency to dig deep and give even _more_ when it seems like there can't possibly be anything left. In fact, one reason why Shoto suspected of a connection between him and Midoriya is that the green-haired boy seems to share the trait.

And his mother, who he has tried so hard to keep out of his mind this whole time, was always so encouraging when Shoto would tell her that he wanted to be like All Might. She would ask him to tell her all about it, what kind of hero he wants to be.

Shoto thinks that now he might have a different answer for her. He just hopes that she's willing to hear it.

"Hey, Yaoyorozu?" Shoto asks, suddenly thinking of something as they approach the arena.

"Yes, Todoroki?"

"What about my flames made you think they were beautiful? I'm curious."

"Let me think. They were very...lively. Vibrant. It's hard to describe."

"Huh. Alright."

"And I might be a little biased," Yaoyorozu adds, peaking over her shoulder to grin at him. "Red is my favorite color."

"Todoroki. Yaoyorozu."

Shoto's head turns toward a new voice and sees Tokoyami approaching the two of them. "I was asked to find you so that we can begin the award ceremony."

"Right," says Shoto with a nod.

"I'll leave you two to it, then, and head over to the rest of our class," says Yaoyorozu. "I am really proud of how well you both represented our class today!"

"That is kind of you, Yaoyorozu," Tokoyami returns. "You were a formidable opponent. I'm glad to call you a comrade."

Shoto, thoughts still swirling with everything that has happened, manages a polite nod before she walks off.

He glances at her retreating back while trying not to lose his footing as he follows Tokoyami, and finds himself hoping that he will someday manage to become a hero who is as selfless and kind as he knows Midoriya and Yaoyorozu will be. Strength of body _and_ character - that's what's needed to be a true hero. That's the kind of hero he wants to strive to become.


End file.
